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Part 2:

Biblical Theology Plan

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Introduction

A strong correlation exists between actions, faith and beliefs. That is, an individual’s actions will

naturally follow their belief and their belief determines their level of faith. At its heart,

Christianity attempts to develop people’s faith by sharing of belief.1 Put differently, a person

belief will set the framework for their methodology and content of any Christian ministry. An

individual must therefore engage with clear beliefs because these beliefs work or affect the

ministry. The following paper discusses chosen theological concepts, spiritual formation and

how this can be applied for the ministry contexts.

Theological terms

Metaphysics

Christian ministry depends on metaphysics, which is concerned with the nature of reality and

individual being2. In the context of this position paper, metaphysics refers to the topics dealing

with the human being and nature of existence. The assumption made by the author is that there

exist two spheres of existence: the spiritual and physical. Even more, the author assumes that

both spheres may be discovered through physical senses and reason. But, it is worth noting that

such knowledge relies on physical senses or reason. Consequently, the existence of truth, God

and spiritual reality is taken into consideration as described in the scripture.

1
Lynch, Joseph, The Medieval Church: A Brief History (Pearson: Longman, 2016) pp. 110

2
Ibid, 234.
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Biblical Theology

Central to the Christian ministry and Biblical Theology is the underlying belief on God’s

existence and the entire message in which Christianity is predicated is on the idea that God

exists. In that case, a person’s belief on who God is, affects their communication of the message

of a particular ministry. Also, God’s existence is uncaused first cause, and is for that reason

eternal. Nothing exists in the spiritual or physical spheres that exist if not God. God’s eternity

demands that his existence stands out of time with nor beginning or end. With all the

intelligence, self-awareness, rationality and creativity; God is a person. He is also omnipotent

and he is capable of doing all that is able to be done. His omnipresent nature implies that He has

existence in all spaces of reality at every time. God is omniscient, which means he knows all that

can be known. The author in this context attributes God’s omnipotence to intentional lack of

knowledge. Furthermore, God is holy, unique, perfect, self-complete, and separate from

creations and sin (Gen. 1:1, 22:12; Dt. 32:4, 33:27; Ps. 139:7; 2 Sam. 22:31; Mt. 5:48; Acts

15:17-18; Heb. 4:13; 1 Jn. 4:8, 16; Rev. 1:8). His holiness dictates what he can or cannot do.

Everything he does is away from evil and He is good. He is faithful in love and therefore He is

love. He is able to demonstrate mercy, faithfulness, grace and personal revelation. God is triune

which means He is one God in unity of purpose and will yet exists in three eternal entities: the

Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Harmatiology
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This is the doctrine of sin3. It offers Christianity answer to evil and its existence. Harmatiology

seeks to explain why our physical world experience suffering including death. Conceptually, sin

is the antithesis of God and thus entails anything not made of God. Following the fact that all

God’s commandments are relational decrees of loving God and mankind; any action or thought

without these motivations is therefore considered sin. Despite the fact that no any sin is greater

than another, there are two categorizations of sin: sins of omission and sins of commission.

Lastly, all creations have fallen into the state of depravity since the beginning and fall of

mankind. The act of rebellion against God by the first man and woman is what introduced sin in

nature. Ever since, sin has become a very influential force in all creations that are in a desperate

attempt for redemption (Gen. 1:26-31, 3:16-19, 6:5-7; Rom. 1:18-32).

Epistemology

In the Christian ministry, epistemology asserts what predicates the truth. It studies knowledge

and truth. Human beings will know truth through reason, senses and revelation. By definition,

truth is something that confirms actuality and how it corresponds to the reality4. Jesus is the way

and foundation to all truth. While God possesses all truth, it must be noted that He does not

reveal all truth and a balance between skeptical epistemology and dogmatic theology ought to be

maintained. The intent of the author in this exposition is to maintain such a balance.

3
Calvin, John. Institutes of Christian Religion (Philadelphia: Westminster, 2015 ), pp 45-78

4
Augustine. The City of God. Leicester: IVP, 2014.
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Axiology

In a broad sense, axiology studies the values5. This essay focuses on aesthetics and moral values.

In the assertion proposed by this theological position paper, is that values may be objectively

expressed and measured. God has the definition of beauty, good and what is valuable and these

makes the highest measure of these things. The Christian ministry should be performed such that

everything that is highlighted is attributed to God. The author expresses God’s power, beauty and

goodness within created realities.

Hermeneutics

In biblical context, this studies methods and principles which seek to interpret the biblical text.

God has commanded all believers to beware and be involved in hermeneutics (2nd Timothy

2:15). The key goal of hermeneutics is to allow believers to understand, interpret and apply

biblical texts. One important law of biblical hermeneutics is that biblical translation should be

literal. It should be understood in the plain, normal manner unless the passages have intentional

figures of speech of symbolism employed. For the Bible says what it means. As an example,

when Christ fed the “five thousand people” according to Mark 8:19, the hermeneutics law insists

that the value was five thousand literally. Attempting to spiritualize or deny miracle workings of

the savior is doing injustice besides ignoring the key goal of the language used to communicate.

5
Augustine. The City of God. Leicester: IVP, 2014.
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Often the interpreters will make a mistake to try and read the scriptures and come up with

esoteric meanings that may not be truly within the text as if the passages have a hidden spiritual

truth that ought to be decrypted. But, the objective of Biblical hermeneutics is keeping believers

faithful to the intentional meaning of the scriptures in which case the verses should take literal

meaning.

Ministry Praxis

Educational Assumptions

God chose and will continue to choose educating people. The author believes that all human

creation is capable of learning. This is because learning has impact on values and believes.

Education in its fullest will point man to the need for fundamental receptivity and openness of

the truth. The author maintains that education is indispensable when it comes to the Christian

ministry.

The Role of Preaching for Education

The responsibility of a preacher or a teaching pastor is educating the believer to understand and

practically apply the scriptures in their day to day lives. The teaching must be founded on

exegetical principals. Most important for the preacher is to know that the Bible was written by

people in different situations and time, and it’s incumbent on the preacher to teach such

backgrounds to the congregation in order to improve their understanding. In addition, the

congregational orthodoxy must be upheld so as to not lead to biblical contradiction or prompting

changes in the guidance of the Holy Spirit6. Hence, teaching foundational, solid doctrine is

critical. The doctrine might or might not consist of the traditional creeds of Christianity.

Spiritual formation of the Believer

Universally, the believer’s spiritual formation is the church’s responsibility. However, this

should be a primary function of the local congregation. Fellow Christians ought to be directed by

the scriptures to teach and mentor other believers who may be spiritually less mature. The

narrator does not deny the role Holy Spirit does to mature the believers, but also insists on the

additional role to be played by the church in education, and mentorship of the fellow

congregants.

Leadership Ministry

Personal Character of Leaders

The church leader ought to imitate Christ. This is because a failure in leadership has

consequences for individual believers and the corporate congregation. As such, leaders must be

humble, wise and full of integrity. They must also be honest, putting their word beyond and

above reproach. Additionally, a leader must be quick to forgive and slow to anger. They must

possess mindfulness beyond humility in their hearts and walk in the image of God, -submitting to

His authority and that of the Holy Scripture.

Servant Leadership

6
Gonzalez Justo,The Story of Christianity. (Arvada:Prince Press, 2019), pp 301
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The fullness of imitating Christ comes by servant leadership7. This leadership style is by meeting

the people’s needs with disregard to their cultural or social class. It is a leadership style that

flows out of love and puts others benefits in front of oneself8. Love is an overarching principle

declared by the scriptures and therefore it is the key principal virtue for Christian leaders.

Conclusion

Christian ministry is based on the truth. God has elected himself so that his truth may be revealed

through His creations, human and angelic agents, the Bible, Jesus Christ and the guidance of the

Holy Spirit. None of named principles takes precedence over another as God is the master who

determines the method of revelation. But each form used for revelation is enough to justify the

condemnation of the sinner against the creator (Jn. 1:14, 16-18; Rom. 1:18-20; Ps. 19:1-6; 1 Pt.

1:10-12, 20; 2 Pt. 1:20-21; Heb. 1:1-2)

A general revelation of God is creations, which is perceivable to all mankind. The existence,

order and aesthetics of all creations speak of the God as creative, intellect, omniscience and

omnipotent. All these four attributes are perceivable through creations. For example, God is

cosmological meaning He is the first cause; He is teleological meaning He is the designer; He is

anthropological which means He is a person; and lastly, He is relational which implies He gives

the moral laws.

7
Augustine, Confessions. Henry Chadwick, trans. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015),
pp.10
8
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, 5 volumes. (New York: Penguin, 2017), pp. 67
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To provide special messages God used revelation. The messages were either human (prophets) or

angelic in nature. Even though, these messengers may be present today to offer direct revelation,

majority of the revelations are preserved in the Holy Scriptures. Even more, the Bible is inerrant

when it comes to authoritative matters, and original autographs in matters of salvation and faith.

Its authorship was inspired by God through the Holy Spirit.

In conclusion, just like all pieces of literature, scriptures must be understood in the historical and

literal context. Readers should endeavor to understand the author’s context, to what audience

was the scriptures written and intended meaning for the notations. Nonetheless, the scriptures

antiquity makes these undertaking a bit difficult as the possible historical context and meaning

may not be comprehensible.

Bibliography

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica, 5 volumes. New York: Penguin, 2017.

Augustine. Confessions. Henry Chadwick, trans. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Augustine. The City of God. Leicester: IVP, 2014.

Calvin, John. Institutes of Christian Religion, Philadelphia: Westminster, 2015

Gonzalez, Justo. The Story of Christianity. Arvada:Prince Press, 1999; originally published in

two volumes by Harper SanFrancisco, 1984/85. Overview of the first five centuries of

Christian history.

Lynch, Joseph. The Medieval Church: A Brief History. Pearson: Longman, 2016.